Skip-loading gate

ABSTRACT

The invention pertains to a positive-locking skip-loading gate for a bin having a sloped bottom and an opening at the bottom thereof. The gate comprises a door member rotatably suspended near the top thereof about a pin member, said door contacting a chute extension of said bin and blocking the discharge opening of said bin when in a closed position. The door member, when not positive-locked in a closed position, is forced open by the weight of material in said bin and remains open until the contents of the bin are discharged. After the flow of material has stopped, the door is returned by gravity to a closed position. The door is locked in a closed position by cam means interconnecting said door and a slidable spout extension for the chute of said bin. A piston connected by a shaft to said spout and located in a protected position under bin retracts and extends the spout, said piston also rotating the cam means and locking said door in a closed position when the spout is retracted.

United States Patent [72] inventor Robert Coucher Salt Lake City, Utah 211 App]. No. 25,913 [22] Filed Apr. 6, 1970 [45] Patented Oct. 12, 1971 [73] Assignee United Park City Mines Company Salt Lake City, Utah [54] SKIP-LOADING GATE 15 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] [1.5. Cl 222/537, 49/340, 193/2, 214/622 [51] Int. Cl B65g 11/20 [50] Field of Search 222/529, 537', 214/622, 625, 626, 627, 628; 49/340; 193/14, 20, 21

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 778,846 5/1905 Porter, Jr 193/21 FOREIGN PATENTS 9,127 7/195 6 Germany, 193/21 Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Lawrence .l. Oresky Attorneys-William S. Britt, C. Harvey Gold and David V.

Trask ABSTRACT: The invention pertains to a positive-locking skip-loading gate for a bin having a sloped bottom and an opening at the bottom thereof. The gate comprises a door member rotatably suspended near the top thereof about a pin member, said door contacting a chute extension of said bin and blocking the discharge opening of said bin when in a closed position. The door member, when not positive-locked in a closed position, is forced open by the weight of material in said bin and remains open until the contents of the bin are discharged. After the flow of material has stopped, the door is r'etumed by gravity to a closed position, The door is locked in a closed position by cam means interconnecting said door and a slidable spout extension for the chute of said bin. A piston connected by a shaft to said spout and located in a protected position under bin retracts and extends the spout, said piston also rotating the cam means and locking said door in a closed position when the spout is retracted.

ATENTED 0m 1 2mm 3 51 3 SHEET 10F s INVENTOR, Robert G. Cou h lay His Attorney P UCTIZIST! ATENTEU SHEET NF 3 3.612.364

INVENTOR Roberi G. Couther His Attorney SKIP-LOADING GATE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I Skip-loading gates are employed in mines and other industries to permit the measured contents of a bin to be discharged into a skip located near an opening in the bottom of said bin and to block when closed said opening thereby allowing the bin to be refilled with a measured amount of material. Typical skip-loading gates are exhibited in U.S. PAT. No. 1,716,289 of Allen et al. and in FIG. 4 of the drawings attached hereto.

In FIG. 4 there is illustrated a skip-loading gate for a bin located alongside a vertical mine shaft wherein the skip is raised, when filled, to remove materials from said mine. The gate of FIG. 4 utilizes a pair of pistons located on each side of said bin to rotate a door about pin means near the bottom of said bin, to allow said door to be a chute extension or spout when in an open position and to block the discharge opening of said bin when in a closed position. The door, however, is held shut by the fluid pressure within the actuating pistons. If fluid pressure is lost, the door can swing open by the force exerted by the contents of said bin. Furthermore, the flow of the contents of the bin over the door when the door acts as a spout, causes excessive wear on said door requiring frequent replacement of doorplates. The lack of positive locking means and the necessity of frequent maintenance are disadvantages of the gate illustrated in FIG. 4.

The gate described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,716,289 of Allen et al. appears to positively lock in place when the actuating piston is fully extended, however, a number of undesirably characteristics appear to be associated with said gate. Whenever the bin is filled with material, which is generally granular and abrasive, the material would be packed against the inside, arcuate wall of the gate thereby requiring considerable force to open said gate because of the friction between the material in the bin discharge chute and the interior surface of said gate. Also, this same friction would cause considerably wear on the interior surface of said gate, necessitating considerable maintenance. In mining operations the material placed in a bin of this type frequently is wet and often has a cementatious action when permitted to stand for even short periods of time. The handling of wet, cementatious material in the gate of Allen et al. would require a powerful piston. Considerable wear would also occur at the top of the chute extending from the bin opening inasmuch as abrasive material would tend to adhere to the arcuate, interior surface and abrade the edge of the chute as the arcuate surface passed the chute edge.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the instant invention to provide a gate which positively locks when closed.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a gate which requires little power to actuate.

Another object of this invention is to reduce wear and maintenance on a gate and associated elements when used on a bin containing granular and abrasive materials.

An addition objective of this invention is to provide a gate assembly which comprises few parts and is simple in operation.

A further objective of this invention is to provide a gate assembly which can be substantially automated and interlocked with a skip to render operation thereof substantially accidentproof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A skip-loading gate has now been invented which overcomes many of the shortcomings of known gates and meets the objectives of the invention. This gate is for a bin having an angled or sloped bottom with an opening at the bottom thereof communicating with a chute or similar discharge trough. The instant gate is located near the discharge opening of said bin in such a manner as to block said discharge opening when the gate is in a closed position.

The gate of this invention generally comprises a door member suspended near its top about pin means or axle means so that said door rotates or swings about the suspension means, swinging up to an open position when material is flowing from said bin and swinging closed to a position in contact with the chute or discharge trough.

The door member is attached by arms extending from each side of said door to slidably connect at the opposite end of said arms from said door with cam means located on each side of said bin, said cam means connecting at their lower portions with a movable spout member which acts as an extension for said chute when in an extended position and which rotates said cam means thereby locking said door in a closed position when said chute is retracted.

Further description of the invention can be facilitated by reference to the following figures:

FIG. I is an elevational view of tlhe side of a bin and the novel gate of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view similar to FIG. I showing the door of the gate in a closed position and the spout retracted;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the front of the novel gate;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of a prior art gate positioned alongside a vertical mine shaft. In FIG. I a side, elevational view of the gate of this invention is illustrated with the door in an open position and the spout in an extended position. The bin I contains various kinds of materials depending upon the industry involved. In mining operations the bin I may contain ore, solid wastes, or the like, in a dry or wet condition. Usually the material in the bin 11 is granular and abrasive, even when in a wet condition. Dry material is especially abrasive while wet material has a tendency to be cementatious. The bin 11 is filled from the top and is designed to hold a measured quantity, for example, the volume of the bin I is often the same as the skip into which the bin contents are discharged.

The bin ll, as illustrated in FIG. I, has an angled or sloped bottom 2 which is designed to have a greater slope than the angle of repose of material stored in said bin. Material from said bin flows through a chute 3, which is an extension of the sloped bottom of said bin, through the spout d and into a skip 5. The skip 5 may travel in a horizontal or vertical direction. In FIG. 4 a skip is shown positioned in a vertical mine shaft.

The door member 6 of the gate assembly is shown in an open position. The phantom lines also show the door 6 in a closed position in contact with the bottom of said chute, blocking the discharge opening of the bin 11. The door 6 is rigidly attached to pins or an axle 7 freely supported in an opening of brace 6 attached to the bin ll. Also rigidly attached to the pins 7 are arms 9 which extend from the top of the door 6 alongside each side of the bin 11. The arms are substantially parallel to each other and preferably extend at an angle of less than from the flat face of said door. With the door 6 and arms 9 both rigidly attached to the same axle or pins 7, the door 6 and arms 9 rotate together about the same axis and stay in a fixed relationship. The axle or pins 7 rotate in the brace 8, which may be fitted with bearings to facilitate the opening and closing of the door 6.

The arms 9 slidably engage cam means 116 by pin members II which fit into slots or slideways 112 located in the upper portion of said cam means. The cam means I9 are attached near their tops to the bin 11 or an associated support by an axle or pin members 119 so that the cams can swing in a short are about the pins 113. The pins II of arms 9 can slidably move in the slots I2 while the cams 116 are stationary and engaged with the spout 4 while said spout is in a fully extended position. The door 6 is free to swing open and closed while the came means is in the position shown in FIG. I. The door 6, when the came means 16 engages the spout t in a fully extended position, is forced open by the weight of the material in the bin I. As the door 6 swings open, the material completely discharges from said bin through the chute 3 and spout 4i into a skip 5. When all the material has flowed from the chute 3, the door 6 then returns to a closed position by gravity, causing arms 9 to swing upwards come to rest with the pin members 1111 engaging cam means near the upper portions of slideways 12. The closed position of door 6 is shown in FIG. 1 by phantom lines.

If door 6 only partially closes, for example, if clumps of material adhere to the bottom of chute 3, preventing the door from contacting the chute bottom, the counterclockwise rotation of cam means 10 causes the slideways 12 to engage the pin members 11, causing the arms 9 to move upwards, thus rotating the door 6 to a fully closed and locked position.

FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the gate assemblage of this invention in a closed and locked position. Piston 14 has retracted spout 4 by rotating the spout 4 about pins or rollers and causing pin assembly 15 to slide or roll rearwardly in the track or slideways 16. The rearward movement of spout 4 also causes pins 17 to move in slots 18 located near the bottom of cams l0. Spout 4, of course, can be attached to slideways 16 outboard of the vertical sides of spout 4 so that spout 4 would not require rotation about pins 15 but could be retracted and extended with face in a substantially parallel relation to the chute bottom at all times.

As spout 4 moves rearwardly pins 17 attached horizontally to the vertical sides of spout 4 cause cams 10 to rotate in a counterclockwise position. The slots 18 in cams 10 near the lower portions of cams 10 permit pins 17 to move in a radial direction with reference to pins 13 of cams 10. The counterclockwise rotation of cams 10 causes the slideways 12 to move in relation to pins 11, moving the traversely open portion of slideways 12 about pins 11 so that pins 11 cannot move in a direction normal to the lengthwise axes of arms 9. The length of arms 9 and the position of pins 11 should be such that a force applied normal to arms 9 through pins 11 would pass through pins 13 or to the door-side of pins 13. By such an arrangement the door member cannot move even though a large force is applied to it inasmuch as a downward force exerted by pins 11 would tend to cause no movement of cams 10 or would tend to rotate cams 10 in a counterclockwise direction. In either case, pins 11 would stay locked in the lateral or transverse indentations of slideways 12 and door 6 would remain in a closed position. The arms 9 preferably assume a substantially horizontal position when locked in the lateral indentation of slideways 12.

FIG. 3 is a front, elevational view of the skip-loading gate illustrated in FIG. 1. The gate in FIG. 3 is shown in an open position with door 6 being raised and arms 9 in their lowest position with pins 11 engaging the slideways 12 at the bottom of the slideways. FIG. 3 shows the door 6 and the arms 9 rigidly fixed to the axle or shaft 7 so that they are maintained in a fixed relationship. The axle or shaft 7 rotates in the supports 8 which are attached to the bin 1. The arms 9 are shown located on the outboard side of the cams 10, however, the arms 9 could be located on the inboard side of cams 10 if so desired. Cains 10 are shown rotatably attached to pins 13 at the upper extremity of cams 10. At the lower extremity of cams 10, pins 17 of spout 4 engage the slideways 18 of the cams 10. The spout 4 has two vertical sides and a bottom plate 20 which extends beyond the chute 3 and has an angled lip 19 over which material flows into a hopper or skip or other container. Other constniii'ions for spout 4 are'within the scope of the invention, for example, an angled lip is not a necessity.

In FIG.-4 there is shown a prior art skip-loading gate associated with a bin 1 having a sloped bottom 2 located adjacent a vertical shaft 21 in which a skip 5 is lowered and raised to remove material dumped into bin 1. The material removed may be waste material or ore which has been mined in horizontal shafts radiating from the vertical shaft 21. The prior art gate illustrated in FIG. 4 shows a large piston 21 located on one side of the bin with a comparable piston located on the other side of the bin to rotate a gate 22 about an axle or pins 23 to assume an open or closed position depending on whether the plunger of piston 21 is extended or retracted. The gate 22 may be rotated about point 23 to close the discharge opening of the chute 3 extending from the bin 1. However, as can be seen from this illustration, the gate 22 is held closed by the fluid pressure within the piston 21 and any failure of fluid pressure in the piston would allow the gate to open. Also, as can be seen from this illustration, the ore or waste material flowing from bin 1 into skip 5 flows over the doorplate 24 of gate 22 causing considerable wear on said doorplates and requiring frequent replacement. The pistons 21 located on either side of the bin are not protected and can be damaged by debris falling alongside said bin.

The gate illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 is advantageous over that illustrated in FIG. 4 inasmuch as only one piston is required to operate the gate of the instant invention and the single piston may be of smaller size than the duel pistons required to operate the gate of the prior art as illustrated in FIG. 4. The gate of the instant invention has a positive rocking means so that the door can be locked in a closed position that will remain closed even if the piston 14 becomes inoperative. Also, the piston 14 is protected by the bin from being damaged by falling debris and thelike.

In operation the gate of the instant invention may be interlocked electrically with a ,dtection device, such as a contact switch or photoelectric cell which is actuated when the skip 5 assumes a proper position for loading. The detection device actuated by skip 5 then closes a switch which permits the actuating of piston 14 to rotate spout 4 from a retracted position to an extended position simultaneously moving cams 10 in a clockwise position and releasing pins 11 from the lateral indents in the slideways 12. When the pins 11 are free to slide downwards in slideways 12, the weight of material in the bin swings door 6 to an open position and the material flows through the chute 3 over the faceplate 20 of spout 4 and into the skip or bucket 5. The volume of the bin is approximately equal to that of the bucket or skip 5 so that the bin becomes completely empty. As door 6 swings open, a damper may be contacted which retards the closing of door 6 for a sufficiently long period to allow all the material of the bin to be discharged. The door 6 swings closed by gravity inasmuch as the weight of the door considerably exceeds that of the arms 9 and returns to a closed position as shown in the phantom lines of FIG. 1.

The operation of the gate of the instant invention can be substantially automated and interlocked electrically so that the bin will not open unless the skip is in a proper position and the skip will not ascend or descend until the chute is in a retracted position. As indicated hereinabove, a detection device such as a contact switch or photoelectric cell can be utilized to close a switch permitting the operation of piston 14 whenever skip 5 is in a proper position for loading. Piston 14 can then be actuated manually by an operator actuating a switch which operates a valve to piston 14 thus allowing fluid to flow into the piston and extend the chute 4 to its fully extended position and allowing the opening of door 6. Also, the detection device associated with skip 5 could be electrically connecting to a time-delay switch which after a few seconds delay of notice from the detection switch that skip S is in a proper position the time delay switch could automatically actuate piston 14, thus extending chute 4 and allowing door 6 to open. 1

When all the material has been discharged from bin 1, the door 6 swings closed moving arms 9 to a substantially horizontal position as indicated in FIG. 1 in the phantom lines. A contact switch or detection device can be associated with arms 9 so that when arms 9 are in an upper position indication that door 6 is in a closed position, the contact switch or detection device can close a switch permitting the manual operation of piston 14 to cause the piston and chute to assume a retracted position, or the detection device associated with arms 9 can operate a time-delay switch which automatically actuates piston 14 to retract chute 4 and rotate earns 10 in a counterclockwise position until pins 11 are locked in place in the transverse indentations of slideways 12, as shown in FIG. 2. A detection device or contact switch can be located so that cams 10 actuate such when cams 10 have reached their extreme position after counterclockwise rotation. The contact switch associated with cams 10 can then permit or actuate a valve to cease the flow of fluid to piston 11d and close all valves associated with the inlet and outlets of piston M so that piston M remains in a static condition. The contact switch or detection means associated with earns can also be interlocked with the hoisting mechanism for the skip so that the skip cannot be raised or lowered until the chute d is in a fully retracted position and the contact switch associated with cams 110 has been actuated.

The device of the instant invention is further advantageous is that the chute and door are substantially counterbalanced and the gate can either be closed or open by hand if a power failure, either fluid or electrical power, occurs. Since gate 6 assumes a closed position by its own weight, if the power failure occurs while chute ll is extended, it is only necessary to retract chute d by hand and force pins ll into the transverse indentations of slideways 12 to lock the gate and preclude the accidental flowing of material through bin 11 into the vertical shaft. Also, having the chute A retractable by hand permits the raising and lowering of skip 5 which could not be accomplished with chute Al in an extended position without considerably mechanical effort.

Although the invention has been described hereinabove with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended that the invention be limited solely thereto, but includes all the variations and modification s falling within the scope of the appended claims.

l. A skip-loader gate for a bin having a substantially vertical opening at the bottom thereof and a chute extending from said opening, said gate comprising:

a. a door member suspended near the top thereof, contacting the bottom of said chute and blocking the discharge opening of said bin when in a closed position;

b. arm members attached in a fixed relationship to said door and extending alongside said bin in a direction substantially parallel to each other;

e. a spout member forming an extension of said chute and retractable to a position under said chute;

d. a pair of cam means each rotatably attached near the top thereof to opposite side of said bin and communicating with said arm members at the opposite end from said door and communicating with said spout member at the lower end of said cam means, said cam means locking said arms in an immobile condition when said spout is in a retracted position; and

e. means for extending and retracting said spout member.

2.The skip-loader gate of claim 11, wherein the door member and arm members are rotatably suspended about the same axis.

3. The skip-loader gate of claim 11 wherein the angle between the plane of the door member and a plane passing through the lengthwise axis of each arm member is less than about 4. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein pin members of said arm members engage slideways near the top of said cam means and said arms are in a substantially horizontal position when said cam means lock said arms in an immobile position.

5. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein pin members of said spout engage slideways near the bottom of said cam means.

6. The skip-loader gate of claim ll wherein the pin members of said arms are free to traverse an arc in the upper slideways of the cam means when said spout member is in an extended position.

7. The skip-loader gate of claim 11 wherein the spout member is rotatable about pin members which slidably engage a track of a support member.

b. The skip loader gate of claim 11 wherein the bin has an angled bottom and the vertical opening is at the junction of said bottom and the vertical side with which the bottom forms and includes angle of less than 90.

9. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the spout member comprises a bottom and two substantially vertical sides, said bottom and sides forming an extension of said chute when said spout member is in an extended position.

Ml. The skip-loader gate of claim ll wherein the door member has a substantially flat face of substantially the same size as the vertical discharge opening of said bin.

Ill. The skip-loader gate of claim l wherein a plane containing the flat face of said door member passes to the outboard side of the axis about which said door rotates.

12. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein pin members attached to said arms engage lateral indentations in the upper slideways of said cam means when said spout member is in a fully retracted position.

13. The skip-loader gate of claim ll wherein the means for extending and retracting said spout member comprises a fluid actuated piston within a cylinder.

M. The skip-loader gate of claim 11 wherein the spout member extends and rotates about a pin member engaged in a fixed slideway below said spout.

115. The skip-loader gate of claim 13 wherein a shaft attaches the rear portion of said spout member to said piston. 

1. A skip-Loader gate for a bin having a substantially vertical opening at the bottom thereof and a chute extending from said opening, said gate comprising: a. a door member suspended near the top thereof, contacting the bottom of said chute and blocking the discharge opening of said bin when in a closed position; b. arm members attached in a fixed relationship to said door and extending alongside said bin in a direction substantially parallel to each other; c. a spout member forming an extension of said chute and retractable to a position under said chute; d. a pair of cam means each rotatably attached near the top thereof to opposite side of said bin and communicating with said arm members at the opposite end from said door and communicating with said spout member at the lower end of said cam means, said cam means locking said arms in an immobile condition when said spout is in a retracted position; and e. means for extending and retracting said spout member.
 3. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the angle between the plane of the door member and a plane passing through the lengthwise axis of each arm member is less than about 90*.
 4. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein pin members of said arm members engage slideways near the top of said cam means and said arms are in a substantially horizontal position when said cam means lock said arms in an immobile position.
 5. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein pin members of said spout engage slideways near the bottom of said cam means.
 6. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the pin members of said arms are free to traverse an arc in the upper slideways of the cam means when said spout member is in an extended position.
 7. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the spout member is rotatable about pin members which slidably engage a track of a support member.
 8. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the bin has an angled bottom and the vertical opening is at the junction of said bottom and the vertical side with which the bottom forms and includes angle of less than 90*.
 9. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the spout member comprises a bottom and two substantially vertical sides, said bottom and sides forming an extension of said chute when said spout member is in an extended position.
 10. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the door member has a substantially flat face of substantially the same size as the vertical discharge opening of said bin.
 11. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein a plane containing the flat face of said door member passes to the outboard side of the axis about which said door rotates.
 12. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein pin members attached to said arms engage lateral indentations in the upper slideways of said cam means when said spout member is in a fully retracted position.
 13. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the means for extending and retracting said spout member comprises a fluid actuated piston within a cylinder.
 14. The skip-loader gate of claim 1 wherein the spout member extends and rotates about a pin member engaged in a fixed slideway below said spout.
 15. The skip-loader gate of claim 13 wherein a shaft attaches the rear portion of said spout member to said piston. 